…and it still is! Waz and I used to live with some kids that were under government care (long story, but that’s for another time!) and it was a very difficult time for us. To make it easier, and to put a little fun and distraction into our days, we’d do silly little things around the house to cheer us up. While we were there, I drew a moustache on our ensuite mirror with my eyeliner… a really small imperial moustache! It used to perk us up, to get ready in the mornings and look somewhat like a sleazy magician! I was perusing some of Fred’s awesome products yet again and, of course, he has a brilliant version of some mirror fun with these decals.

Around $6 from here, or anywhere else you can google! Waz and I still write on our mirror, but sappy stuff I can’t write here! And with this post, I bid you farewell for the week as we are going on a little holiday down to my brothers country holiday home… 5 acres of loveliness and cows next door to boot! I’ll return with some photos and some great stories from last years holiday down there with our crazy friends!

I love when an object of function can become an object of beauty in it’s own standing. Traditionally, shadow boxes were the ‘thing’ back in the Victorian era, for the display of curios through a glass front. These Baroque Bookshelves from Graham and Green, (from £45), serve not only as a shelf for books, cd’s, dvd’s or curio, but become their own little artistic piece courtesy of it’s spunky picture frame. I really like the idea of non-permanent wall shelves, to be hung anywhere you like!

*image courtesy of linked site

I am loving the cold and rainy weather we are having here in Melbourne! Pity our rental has no insulation whatsoever… it’s just lucky I have my own insulation in body fat to keep away the winter blues 😉

To coincide with the storms, drizzle, fog, mist, hail, cats and/or dogs, here are some of my favourite umbrellas from around the traps!

…all images courtesy of linked sites…

That’s right, step off Torrance Shipman! You will probably have seen these mega-lovely tissue paper pom-poms on every craft channel in the world, and they deserve the publicity because they are as lovely as they seem. They turn out like dahlias. My friend Bek has a scrumptious little daughter named Adiel Faith, who is having her very first birthday soon and will be having these pom-poms hanging around her as she shoves her little hands into her first cake! Do these right and they come out a treat. All images are from Martha Stewart and her instructions are here. Have a go!

My best friend is perhaps the funniest person in my world without her ever meaning to be. The amount of ridiculousness that comes out of her mouth when she is just trying to speak normally bodes well for me because I love me some free entertainment! Just two nights ago, we were out and about and we went past a church hall. BF told me animatedly that she used to have ‘Romper Stomper‘ in there. She had meant the kids playgroup was called “Romper Room”. How an innocent 4-year-old can suddenly become a vicious neo-nazi skinhead is magical. And trust me, this is regular scheduled viewing with her! Her fear of clowns, her love of ‘Werewolf Barmitzvah‘ and the rest of her insanity is why I love her.

Just as there is a reason she is my best pal, there are too many reasons why dogs are ‘mans best friend’… I just couldn’t type fast enough or have enough words in my vocab to describe how much I love dogs! Luckily for me, there are people out there designing some pretty amazing things to spoil our pups with.

I just have to commend inventor, Emily Cummins, on her brilliant design of this sustainable mobile refrigerator. She explains it so much better than I ever could, so this is how it works:

“We can’t continue to rely on electrical appliances powered by fossil fuels, so I tried to come up with an alternative: a sustainable fridge which is ‘powered’ by dirty water. My prototype consists of two metallic cylinders, one inside the other, between which a locally-sourced material such as sand or wool is packed tightly before being soaked with water. When the fridge is placed in a warm environment, the sun’s energy causes the outer part of the fridge to ’sweat.’ Water evaporates from the sand or wool and heat energy is transferred away from the inner cylinder, which therefore becomes cooler. The design is ideal for use in the developing world because it doesn’t require electricity and can be built using barrels, spare car parts and ordinary household materials. Unlike previous pot-in-pot coolers, the contents are kept dry and hygienic because the water does not come into contact with the product.”

She has also set up a website, MyKindaCrowd, connecting students to businesses and creating ‘challenges’ for students to complete and show their talents in order to create professional links within the business world. Emily also gave away her refrigerator design plans to townships across Southern Africa to enable people to build their own fridges. Wow!